President must take more time and do the right thing-Basil Rajapaksa

March 1st, 2008

Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa in an interview with LAKBIMAnEWS staffer Namini Wijedasa says, “India did not force his brother’s government to agree to a full implementation of the 13th Amendment.” Excerpts:

Ln: Is the government going ahead with the 13th Amendment?
BR: That’s what the APRC proposed and the government has accepted it. The UNP has also accepted it. It is part of constitution. Everybody has to implement the constitution as much as possible.

Ln: Did the government agree to this due to heavy pressure from India?
BR: Not to my knowledge. This is definitely not a matter of India pressurising. Everybody knows the 13th Amendment was part and parcel of the Indo-Lanka Accord. India was very much involved in the process. It is not the case now. Today, we want to get the liberated people of the East to participate in democracy after many years of LTTE terrorism. We want to give them the democracy that citizens are enjoying in every part of the country except Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi.

Ln: Does the international community support the government on the 13th Amendment?
BR: This government doesn’t believe it can live without the international community but I think the President doesn’t do anything specifically to please the international community. He does it for the country. I believe the international community must be pleased because most of them are friends of the government and want democracy established in all parts of Sri Lanka.

Ln:The JVP opposes the 13th Amendment…
BR: Immediately after liberation (of the East), the JVP’s main request was that we hold elections and establish democracy. I don’t think the JVP will be against what we are doing. The JVP has representation in other provincial councils. I think they will contest the provincial council in the east if we have an election. They are opposing the 13th Amendment as a policy. They have a right to that view. At one stage, the SLFP was also against it.
Unfortunately, the provincial council system has not functioned in the north and east for more than two decades. The people of the other seven provinces didn’t ask for it but are enjoying it. The people who asked for it don’t have it. That is why the APRC proposed that we have elections immediately and that we implement the system in the north and east. There is no excuse not to have election in the east. This is democratisation.

Ln: The provincial council system is inefficient elsewhere so why do you want to introduce it to the north and east?
BR: If you ask some people, they will say the parliamentary system is not working. Some people think the presidential system is not working. Some say proportional representation is not a good system while others say the judiciary is not working well. There are a lot of views. So you can’t say one system is working and other system is not working. You must take it as a whole.

Ln: When will you hold Provincial Council elections in the north and east?
BR: The APRC proposal is to hold them immediately… soon after this election.

Ln: When?
BR: No date. It depends on the elections commissioner.

Ln: Is it important for the government, for the JVP to support them?
BR: Yes.

Ln: What are you doing at this time to encourage the JVP to support the Government?
BR: We are sticking to the Mahinda Chinthanaya.

Ln:The JVP says the Mahinda Chithanaya does not authorise the President to devolve power through the 13th Amendment or otherwise.
BRThat is their interpretation but that’s not our interpretation.

Ln: Will there be a prorogation of Parliament?
BR: Yes.

Ln: Why?
BR: It’s up to the President to do it but it’s very necessary to prorogue parliament. Normally it happens every year. I don’t know why it didn’t happen for the last few years.

Ln: It is alleged that the President is proroguing parliament merely to have the COPE and PAC reconstituted. Is this true?
BR: It’s not an allegation. It is a fact. They have to be reconstituted.

Ln: Is the President trying to get rid of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Rauff Hakeem who head these committees and who produced hard-hitting reports?
BR: They didn’t produce the reports. They were produced by the committees. And don’t forget that the government now has a majority in these committees because most of the members nominated by the UNP have crossed over to us. When you reconstitute the committees, our majority goes down. So, it’s actually a disadvantage to us.

Ln: Are five more members of the UNP readying to join the government?
BR: I think more than that is ready to join the government. I hear that even the whole UNP wants as a party to get together.

Ln: Are you negotiating with anybody in the UNP at present?
BR: No, I’m not personally negotiating with anybody.

Ln: But you have in the past?
BR: Normally, I negotiate on authority of the party and on request from the President.

Ln: The international media is critical of the fact that the Rajapaksa family is controlling all powerful positions and finances of the government. As you know, that is nepotism. It is corruption to hand out all the best posts to members of your own family. What do you say?
BR: In any executive presidency system, you have to have your own people… the President’s people. It happens in the US… with the Kennedys and all the others. It happens even in communist countries like Cuba or North Korea. It happens in Poland. We can show examples even in Western countries. I think the President has selected the best people who are loyal, capable, trustworthy and honest. For example, he chose Dr P B Jayasundera as finance secretary from Chandrika Kumaratunga. Lalith Weeratunga, his secretary, was with him when he was Prime Minister. He also brought in outsiders like Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabral who was earlier with the UNP. He has selected the best (military) commanders. To my knowledge, only the defence secretary holds a post other than myself… and I’m only an MP. In fact, the only two MPs in the government who are not ministers are Nirupama Rajpaksa and me.

Ln: Why hasn’t the President appointed the Constitutional Council?
BR: I don’t know but I’m not personally for the whole concept of the Constitutional Council. It doesn’t represent the will of the people. For example, a person who secures 51 per cent of the vote is entitled to select one person while a party with just three per cent of the vote also gets one member. And they are all political party appointees so how can you call them independent? Another issue is that the CC is not accountable to anybody. In democracy, there’s interconnectivity, independence and control. Politicians are accountable to the people. The executive is accountable to the judiciary, the judiciary is controlled by legislation and so on. Where the CC is concerned, there is no control at all.
Originally, the commissions were meant to be oversight committees. Now they have become administrative institutions. There is a lot I personally don’t agree with. Still, this is part of the constitution and we have to obey the constitution.
But Ranil Wickremesinghe took one year to nominate his member; the small parties got more than two years; and now they want the President to do it within weeks or days. Why is that? He also must take time. You must give him own time to decide. It’s a risky appointment. Anyway, there is no timeframe for him to appoint.

Ln: But it’s based mostly on goodwill, isn’t it? The President needn’t be as bad as Ranil Wickremesinghe or the small parties…
BR: Yes, that is right. So he must take more time and do the right thing. I think he needs four or five years to do this! (Laughing)

Ln: Do you think the east, from where you just returned, is ready for elections?
BR: The situation has improved since the east was liberated. In the past, people did not talk; they just stood around and watched. Now, they come forward and voice their grievances. They interact. This means that democracy is working. I think this election will be more successful than all others held in Sri Lankan after 1977. A larger number of candidates are participating than we have seen in any recent Pradeshiya Sabha election. There are five registered political parties, six independent groups and 800 candidates. How many electoral candidates have been killed during election campaigns? How much violence have we seen during parliamentary, presidential or local government elections? In the East today, there is hardly any violence. We have only received a small number of minor complaints. Everybody is campaigning freely.

Ln: If the situation is so harmonious, why have civil society groups urged the government to call off the election?
BR: I don’t know. I saw a list of civil organisations, I didn’t see any names. Some civil society organisations have only a website and one person. They are mostly private companies, not organisations. They are creating issues. That’s how they earn money. Only then can they put up project proposals to their financiers who sponsor them.
This is their livelihood. Of course, there are good organisations like PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) and a few others. Everyone can go and see the situation in the East. We want a fair election.

Ln: What do you think voter turnout would be?
BR: Definitely more than 60 per cent. The number of postal votes is already very high.

Ln: What is your relationship with the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP)?
BR: I have a very close relationship with the TMVP. It’s a registered political party. [Courtesy: LakbimaNews]

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